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Gryken
|name = Gryken|kingdom = Animalia|phylum = Chordata|class = Mammalia|order = Carnivora|familia = Mustelidae}} The '''gryken' is a species of large predatory mustelid endemic to the Mediterranean Salt Flat of 5 million AD. It evolved from the pine marten (Martes martes), and lives in the grykes, crevices or fissures which seperate clint slabs, of the karst plateaus and rocky mountains dotting the salt pan. Evolution .]] The ancestor of the gryken was the pine marten (Martes martes), and, unlike many other mammals of 5 million AD, it has changed quite a bit compared to its ancestor. The arboreal pine martens had stocky, powerful legs for leaping and a long tail for maintaining balance in the trees - the gryken, living in rocky crevices, needs neither of these, and has evolved a shorter tail and longer legs. However, its general body plan and head is similar to its ancestor, though its body is more elongated. In a case of minor convergent evolution, the gryken, like the giant mustelid called the snowstalker, has evolved very long fangs, which might be called sabre-teeth, though they are not as long as the snowstalker's. Biology The gryken is about 7'' to 8'' or 20 centimetres tall at the shoulder, and is much longer. It is a streamlined animal with a slim body and a triangular head, with long and slim limbs to help it squeeze through narrow cracks, and a short tail. It also has a pair of long, dagger-like canine teeth which reach down past its lower jaw. The fur of its face is crossed by a thick black stripe which camouflage its eyes, and its body is also striped to break up its contours and disguise it amongst the vegetation. Behaviour Living on the karst plateaus of the Mediterranean Salt Flat, grykens spend most of their lives in grykes or crevices seperating the clints in the uplands of the plateaus, as well as the systems of subterranean caverns which lie below the karst. When stalking prey, they hide themselves within the grykes, popping their heads out from time to time to keep an eye on their quarry, before leaping from the fissure and pouncing. To kill its prey, the gryken punctures the throat with its sabre teeth, tearing out the windpipe. To avoid being attacked whilst feeding, it may throw its dead prey down into the grykes and caves. Ecology The gryken is called the "worst enemy" of the scrofa, as it will hunt and kill scroflets which wander too far from the herd. However, adult scrofas are too large and dangerous for the gryken to attack, and the aggressive boars will in fact charge grykens. It will also attack smaller prey such as cryptiles, which frequently enter grykes to lay their eggs in soil. The eggs themselves are layed in grykes which are far too narrow for the gryken to access. Appearances In the documentary In "The Vanished Sea," a gryken chases a cryptile which has been laying eggs in a gryke, but the lizard escapes, as does a scroflet which the gryken attacks afterwards, resulting in a scrofa boar charging it. The gryken continues to stalk the scrofa herd, and eventually succesfully kills a scroflet. List of appearances *''The Future Is Wild'' **1x01. Welcome to the Future **1x03. The Vanished Sea **''The Future Is Wild'' (US) *''The Future Is Wild: A Natural History of the Future'' *''The Future Is Wild: The Living Book'' Gallery Documentary= FIW 1x3 Gryken watching.png FIW_1x3_Gryken_peeking.png FIW_1x3_Gryken_stalking.png FIW_1x3_Gryken_on_rock.png FIW_1x3_Gryken_stalking_scrofa.png FIW_1x3_Gryken_and_kill.png |-|Promotional= Gryke-600px.jpg Scrofa chasing gryken.png Gryken cropped.png In other languages Navigation Category:Animals Category:Mammals Category:Mustelids Category:Organisms of 5 million AD Category:Organisms of Europe Category:Organisms of the Mediterranean Salt Flat Category:5 million AD